12.16.3 The Macabre Tunnels

Back in the days of the Orcish wars in 600 AA, while the dwarves were   
still enslaved and working in the mines to provide metals for the orcish
armies, one mine near Kinsarmar in the Eastern Nolmine Mountains        
collapsed before the end of the war and trapped all within it. Killing  
off and eating each other, the gnomes and the dwarves, the orcs lived   
off of each other until only the strongest was left                     
Kedar, the orc captain.

Common fungus that grew on the mine shaft walls mutated with the sulfur 
fumes that swelled up from the bowels of Aetherius and, over time,      
became carnivorous creatures that fed on any unfortunate being that     
happened to cross its path. Quite often the skeletal remains of the     
ancient gnomes are often observed as they were the lowest life form in  
the food chain of the Macabre Tunnels.                                  

When the fell beasts were released from Dis, some found their way into  
the Eastern Nolmines and fell into the old tunnels, wandering and       
becoming lost. Their kind's banishment was only to the underworld but   
they were kept in the dark, ancient mine where they grew and bred to    
become something unlike even the darkest minds could imagine.